WILLIAM E. LEBEAU v. MARION B. LEBEAU (05/15/81)

No. 920 April Term, 1979, Appeal from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Civil Division at No. G.D. 75-10789.

COUNSEL

Henry E. Rea, Jr., Pittsburgh, for appellant.

Maurice A. Nernberg, Pittsburgh, for appellee.

Spaeth, Wickersham and Lipez, JJ.

Author: Spaeth

[ 290 Pa. Super. Page 456]

This is an action to recover damages for breach of privacy arising from the divulgence of the contents of an intercepted telephone conversation. The jury returned a verdict for $100 damages plus $2,800 counsel fee, and the lower court

[ 290 Pa. Super. Page 457]

refused to enter judgment n. o. v. We have concluded that judgment n. o. v. should be entered.

The action arises from a marital dispute. The parties were married in December 1947 but separated in May 1972, and in October 1972 appellee filed a complaint in divorce. Sometime before October 24, 1972, appellant's father gave her a tape cassette of appellee talking with another woman. Appellant testified that she had not participated in making or procuring the tape cassette, but she admitted playing it for her brother and for the two attorneys who represented her in the divorce action.

Section 5702 of the Invasion of Privacy Act provided:

A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he:

(1) intercepts without permission of the parties to the communication a message or other communication by telephone or telegraph;

(2) installs or employs any device for overhearing or recording communications passing through a telephone or telegraph line with intent to intercept a ...

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